Historical Archaeology Through a Western Lens

Historical Archaeology Through a Western Lens
Wilson, Douglas
2017-09-13 00:00:00
Hist Arch (2017) 51:587–588 DOI 10.1007/s41636-017-0061-z BOOK REVIEW Mark Warner and Margaret Purser (editors), University of Nebraska Press and the Society for Historical Archaeology, Lincoln, NE, 2017. 400 pp., 77 illus., 16 tables, list of contributors, index. $70.00 cloth Douglas C. Wilson Accepted: 5 August 2017 /Published online: 13 September 2017 Society for Historical Archaeology 2017 The mythic history of the North American West is build a firm foundation for research in the American preoccupied with trails of exploration, immigration, West for decades to come. and commerce, which brought ambitious, brave, and Margaret Purser’s introduction and exploration of primarily white people from the East to hardscrabble “boomsurfing” is a useful addition to our understanding homesteads, mining claims, and timber camps. This of western persistence and how flexible, multiscalar mythology is intertwined with politically charged con- strategies weathered short-term economic instabilities. ceptions of American exceptionalism, individual free- While some of these strategies likely pertain to any dom, and entrepreneurship, all tied to the heritage of small town in America subject to the vagaries of manifest destiny, capitalism, and progress. This book boom-bust cycles, they are accentuated in the West. challenges the mythic West. It treats the reader to a Mark
http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.pngHistorical ArchaeologySpringer Journalshttp://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/historical-archaeology-through-a-western-lens-G7nS4DNFUU